Queen Valdis
Valdis (a.k.a. Banshee Queen)
I hadn't desired a throne before. Now, though? Now, I deserve one.Valdis is an undead banshee who was, in her mortal days, a well-known snow elven bard. She was originally one of many undead created and controlled by the lich Toraldis Máladeilan; her freedom came from a Wish offered by the Lost Ones in trade for the life of Teras Galewen, and she has flourished away from the lich's control.
Naarim's Throne by Hanhula (via Midjourney)
Soon after freeing herself and her closest allies from the lich's control, she set out to conquer herself a territory as her home base. Naarim soon became the target of her sudden surprise attacks, and the scattered, secretive nation could not muster up a defence strong enough to overcome her armies in time.
Despite her reputation of cruelty, she is not merciless. She maintains undead and living subjects in her nation - even welcoming a number of the living into her Widower Knights, who are her most loyal mortal servants - and has ensured the preservation of many mortal towns.
She considers the aasimar Sinikka Martaitten to be her dearest mortal pet, and keeps the unfortunate Knight with her at all times, even in meetings with her close banshee sisters. The woman is reluctant in her service; Valdis seems to appreciate that, oddly, despite her execution of many others for similar failings.
Physical Description
General Physical Condition
Beautiful, immortal, ethereal - and dead. Very dead. Undead, even.
The Queen of Naarim stands at 6'3 when on the ground (which is rare). Were she alive, she would be considered painfully thin and gaunt; as a banshee, it makes sense. White hair drifts behind her in an ethereal cloud, often dancing with the magical lights she conjures, and her blue eyes glow under the moon's light.
As a banshee, she and her sisters are all incorporeal, meaning they have no true body. She can become totally invisible as she pleases, and often uses this ability to keep an eye on her pawns.
It is thought that her colouration would likely have been similar when she was truly alive, as she seems to be of snow elven descent and such features are ordinary for them.
Her physical state as a mortal would likely have been far better, however. She wouldn't wear the signs of starvation and death so clearly. The countless scars hidden beneath the white dresses she veils herself in - scars dealt by her betrayer and by Toraldis, scars marking her transition from living to dead - would no longer be so present. She'd look alive.
Valdis, Queen of Shadows by Hanhula (via Midjourney)
Special abilities
You're better off not hearing what happens when she's angry...As both undead bard and banshee, Valdis has a powerful set of abilities that set her far apart from her kin, and the granting of mythic strength has only empowered her further. A banshee's scream is known to terrify, sicken, and kill those that hear it. Valdis's has always been special: those that fall to her wail rise from the dead as her servants, an ability that Toraldis employed often.
Bardic Music by Hanhula (via Midjourney)
Now that she has her freedom and has bolstered her own power, Valdis's wail has only gotten more terrifying. It retains every quality it had before, but now deafens those who struggle to resist it even if they can survive the damage it causes their bodies. Worse: she has learnt to, at great cost, cast it even within magical areas that would otherwise silence her.
There is no stopping her, now - not unless the sun's rays shine upon her. Like her kin, she cannot do much in sunlight.
She possesses powerful arcane magic in the bardic tradition, though she has no lingering abilities like those of a bard aside from this innate spellcasting knowledge. Most often, she does not rely on her magics; she considers her spells most useful in toying with mortals, and she has others for such things.
She makes an exception for one thing: she has taken to teaching Sinikka how to play various instruments through her bardic magic, much to the warrior's bafflement.
Mental characteristics
Personal history
What use do the dead have for those lost to the past?Like all banshee, Valdis was once a mortal elf. She recalls precious little of her mortal life, save for the endless snows and winter's chill that pursued her through life and into death. She was a snow elf, but she does not recall her tribe - likely, she was of the Isyrei or Elsrei. She was a musician, some form of bard - but those are not skills she bothers to retain.
She was one of a group of elven women captured by Toraldis Máladeilan, one of two prominent liches on Iskaldhal. Her memory of her capture is vague at best; they were fleeing from him, she remembers, through the tall trees ever-present in taiga forests. Her kin were already lost to the horde.
She had something to live for, some reason to keep going - but whatever it was disappeared in the sands of time.
She slipped on a patch of ice, where the sun had melted it during the day and the night had frozen the water into an invisible patch of death. Bones grabbed her arms, chains took her waist and legs; she could do naught but scream as the horde marched on to find the rest of her kin. She never did find out if any of them managed to escape. She hoped, once, that they did.
Uncaring for her safety, the horde dragged her through the rocky underbrush and freezing snow to Akha Ekhursan. There, she would meet Máladeilan. There, she would find her end.
Toraldis's Horde by Hanhula (via Midjourney)
Prisoners Eternal by Hanhula (via Midjourney)
Her immortal self quickly rose in prominence in Máladeilan's armies, her mind no longer fully her own. Though banshee are useless in the sunlight, Akha Ekhursan's extensive underground systems were a paradise for her vengeful ways, and she soon discovered a love for the screams of others alongside her own.
Toraldis saw her trained as a ghostly torturer when she wasn't being used on the battlefield to slay foes with her death-raising wail. Shattering minds piece by delicate piece became her place in his machine.
Undeath became monotonous. She couldn't complain: the control Máladeilan allowed was enough for her to speak and befriend her fellows - or to torment her victims - but chafing against his control could not be tolerated. As the centuries passed, she suffered a dull existence of naught but pain.
There were no gods to pray to for salvation. Her master did not allow such thoughts. Thus: she simply was.
When the Champion - and her friends, obviously - stumbled into the Shrine, they drew attention soon enough. Unprepared to fight a greater banshee and her allies, especially with the horde that would bring down upon them, Licia offered a frantic bargain to Valdis. She'd give the banshee an artifact that would allow her a Wish - a chance at freedom - if they could leave with Teras.
Usually, Toraldis's control would interfere with Valdis's ability to accept, but by some magic - perhaps the freedom-granting magic of Licia's deity, or perhaps the luring song of the Harp of Virtue - Valdis was free enough to make her own choices.
Once the artifact had been used, she was free enough forever. She broke the control of much of Toraldis's horde, and fled with them into the night. Mere months later, she'd built that force into an army of her own with the steady decimation of mortal villages, and she'd set her sights on a wonderful goal: to be a ruler. Naarim fell surprisingly swiftly when she put her mind to it, and she was crowned its undead Queen not even a year after securing her freedom.
Freedom Offered by Hanhula (via Midjourney)
Some call her lonely. Odd. She has we, her sisters in undeath. She is our queen, and she granted us freedom. We are her kin in this, not her slaves. Never shall that lich enslave us again.
Personality
Valdis is an odd one, in terms of personality. Bitter and cruel, she largely fit the banshee stereotype before. With her freedom, she has changed in quite bizarre ways. Her cruelty is tempered by random kindnesses; her bitterness is sweetened by odd desires. Most significantly, she has not always had her ambition. As a slave, such things were crushed. As her own person, her sheer force of will has already seen her named Queen. Valdis's mortal followers exist only because of her kindnesses, and hope regularly that their devout following will encourage the Queen to truly embrace her people, living or dead. It is one of very few hopes they can have.I know not why my Queen cares for me so. I have not done anything particularly special for her, I do not think. She rescued me from her own horde. She offers me... friendship. Learnings, even. If it is loneliness that ails her, then I am glad to be her salve. But... I wish I knew what makes me the jewel of her collection.
Valdis's Pet, Unmasked by Hanhula (via Midjourney)
She's a murderer. A torturer. Undead. Don't fall for any of the propaganda around her: she needs to die.
Banshee Queen by Hanhula (via Midjourney)
whoops